Category Archives: Uncategorized

Is there a fairness instinct or a gene for fairness?

Posted on December 2, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Fairness, Frans de Waal, moral behavior in animals | Leave a comment

Bad bet?

Posted on November 30, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Did the L.A. Lakers just make a really bad bet? A few days ago, the Lakers and Kobe Bryant agreed to a two-year, $48.5 million contract extension. This is no doubt a great deal for the Black Mamba, but is #24, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bad bets, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers | 3 Comments

Are babies Bayesians?

Posted on November 28, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

At its core, Bayes’ theorem is not just a mathematical equation, a formal method for making predictions; it is also a probabilistic and dynamic way of looking at the world. The essence of this approach is the process of Bayesian … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bayes' Theorem, Bayesian updating, priors | 1 Comment

Why Exams Should be Open Book

Posted on November 26, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Originally posted on Cheap Talk:
Writing and studying for an exam is a game played between Professor and student. In this game the Professor has to pick which questions to ask and the student has to pick which topics to…

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

How bad is Yahoo Mail?

Posted on November 25, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

According the website AllThingsD, executives at Yahoo! recently sent out this nasty and morale-shrinking email taking their underlings to task for not using their own company’s email service “Yahoo! Mail.” According to the internal email, “it’s a matter of principle to use the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Yahoo Mail | Leave a comment

The law and economics of Star Trek

Posted on November 24, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Several “Star Trek scholars”–including Matthew Yglesias, Rick Webb, and Joshua Gans–have recently speculated about the economics of Star Trek. How does the economy (and legal system, we would add) work in the world of Star Trek? Does the United Federation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Economics, Law, Star Trek, United Federation of Planets | 4 Comments

What’s up with Jay Z?

Posted on November 23, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

prior probability is a big fan of Jay Z, but his recent mishaps are causing us to update our “Jayzian” priors. For example, we were disappointed when Jay Z visited socialist Cuba last spring but did not use this opportunity … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Jayzian priors", Barneys New York, Cuba, Jay-Z | 2 Comments

“So what really happened that day …?”

Posted on November 22, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Is the lone gunman theory more or less probable than Oliver Stone’s conspiracy theory?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged conspiracy theory, JFK assasination | 2 Comments

The strategy of “nettlesomeness”

Posted on November 22, 2013 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

A few days ago, Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, used the word nettlesomeness to describe Magnus Carlsen‘s chess-playing strategy during the first half of the 2013 World Chess Championship in Chennai, India between Viswanathan Anand (winner of the 2012 World … Continue reading →